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Thread: Salinity Large Drop but No?

  1. #1
    Regular Vistor
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    Salinity Large Drop but No?

    saltdrop.jpg

    As you can see my Salinity is reasonably stable. The slight drop July 12/13 I believe is when I withdrew a small amount of water to dip some new corals and didn't add some salt to compensate.

    Last night as you can see the alarm for salinity tripped and I'm unsure as to why. I can not find anything that corresponds to this.

    My immediate thought when I was woken up around 4AM is that my ATK had run wild and grosely added RO and perhaps was overflowing. I raced downstairs to find everything was ok regarding water. Quick Refractometer test and it was not 32PPT, it was right where it should be, about 33.5ppt, back to bed and turned off e-mail alarms.

    It may be hard to see but again at 15:00 today it did a sharp drop from ~33.5 to ~33.0.

    I haven't cleaned/calibrated in a few months, its been very stable.

    Nothing has changed regarding wiring, there is no power leaking into the tank that I can detect.

    Thoughts?

  2. #2
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
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    Probably a bubble.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by zombie View Post
    Probably a bubble.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
    That's what I was thinking but there had been no turbulence to cause that, that I've seen.

    Knocked it around (fairly gently) and its back to 33.5 where it should be. went a little nuts while doing it though so maybe there was a pocket in there.

    Crazy salt probe.jpg

  4. #4
    Frequent Contributor iamchadster's Avatar
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    I've found that a little can of compressed air that you clean a computer keyboard with etc. works well to give just a couple shots up the business end and through the hole on the side now and then to get the sludge out. If not just visually inspect it and make sure there isn't any gunk up inside.
    Chad

  5. #5
    Frequent Contributor SuncrestReef's Avatar
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    If your probe is in water deep enough to turn it completely upside down while submerged, that's the easiest way to get all the air bubbles out.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by SuncrestReef View Post
    If your probe is in water deep enough to turn it completely upside down while submerged, that's the easiest way to get all the air bubbles out.
    it's not deep enough but I think I got it, time will tell.

  7. #7
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    no 4am alarm this morning

    We'll see if that's done it.

    Thanks guys,

  8. #8
    Frequent Visitor rkpetersen's Avatar
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    Not just bubbles. I have recently had several recorded events where a pH probe suddenly dropped .3 units and then came back up in a minute or so, for no apparent reason. Thought the probe was maybe going bad. Then I had a chance to look at the probe during one of these events, and found a tiny snail crawling on the tip. Shook it off, pH immediately jumped back to normal. Has subsequently happened again (guess I need to clean out my sump). Possibly something similar going on with your conductivity probe.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by rkpetersen View Post
    Not just bubbles. I have recently had several recorded events where a pH probe suddenly dropped .3 units and then came back up in a minute or so, for no apparent reason. Thought the probe was maybe going bad. Then I had a chance to look at the probe during one of these events, and found a tiny snail crawling on the tip. Shook it off, pH immediately jumped back to normal. Has subsequently happened again (guess I need to clean out my sump). Possibly something similar going on with your conductivity probe.
    Anything is possible!

    I have yet to see any snail offspring, despite many a egg swirl being laid on the glass almost weekly.

    It's been steady eddy again since I knocked the probes around a little.

    steadyeddy.jpg

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